Who owns your candidate?

It has become commonplace to bemoan the outsized role special interests play in our politics each election cycle. Yet it can be hard to pin down just who these interests are and which politicians they are giving money to.

At Crowdpac, we believe that political contributions can be powerful indicators of where candidates stand on policy matters - from obscure legislation, to the news of the day. That’s why, ahead of the 2016 Presidential Election, we’re unveiling a new analysis of the state and federal candidates across the country who are most heavily reliant on donations from a particular industry or class of donor.

All candidates raise money. Period. And while it would be simplistic to point to this report as direct evidence of corruption or “pay for play”, the findings uncover new details on the way state and federal political campaigns are funded - revealing that some candidates may receive over 60% of their total campaign contributions from a single industry sector.

Using a historical database containing nearly 200 million itemized campaign contributions, Crowdpac analyzed the amount candidates on the November ballot raised from each industry, expressed as a percentage of their total fundraising haul for campaigns since 2008.

So, without further ado, here are the candidates who rely the most on campaign contributions from big donors.

Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is more beholden to wealthy donors than any other federal candidate in the country. As the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes has received contributions from Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Raytheon, Boeing and other defense contractors. He is also backed by Chevron, AT&T, Metlife, bank of America, and several other high-profile PACs.